Bumblebees in the blossom

Yesterday, Sunday 21st April was a fine and still day, with Blackthorn blossom appearing almost overnight all along the river where the sun warms the earth.

A profusion of Blackthorn blossom with a very bare old oak in the background but a fine blue sky. Some Blackthorn, in more exposed and cooler areas has yet to flower, with only tiny buds visible on the branches

The Blackthorn blossom was buzzing with Bumblebees, White-tailed and Red-tailed mostly, foraging amongst the pollen-laden blossom as the usual wild flowers are only just appearing on the river bank, the warmest spot for the first flowers.

Bright and fresh Hawthorn leaves with another old bare oak as backdrop

A very welcome sight - a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly, looking very fresh, was basking on the debris of the past winter deposited by recurrent flood waters on the river banks  which have never looked as bare. There are signs of life however, with shoots appearing through the dead wood and mud.

A male Mallard paddles along the river, wary that the bare banks provide no hiding place yet.

A view over to High Wood Hill with the newly tilled fields across the river and bare trees

Birds were present in good numbers all along the river banks: 15 robins some singing and others nesting;  52 house sparrows in several colonies, chattering and calling,  25 wrens easy to see and hear, 48 blue tits,  23 great tits, all busy foraging,  7 long-tailed tits,  1 siskin,  4 goldcrests,  5 dunnock, 22 blackbirds foraging in the damp mud of the banks,  3 song thrushes,  2 nesting nuthatches, 

2 great spotted woodpeckers,  1 treecreeper,  3 green woodpeckers,  2 jays,  1 bullfinch, 

10 chaffinch, 4 goldfinch, 1 starling, 7 magpies, 38 woodpigeons, 1 carrion crow, 3 mallard,

 1 pheasant, 2 buzzards

 - and the new arrivals:

10 chiffchaffs,  2 willow warblers, 4 whitethroats

and butterflies newly emerged:

Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell and Comma together with many Bumblebees and Hoverflies.